During the normal manufacture of single stage resole-type liquid phenolic resins a basic catalyst is utilized. To stabilize the finished resin, the base is usually neutralized at the end of the manufacturing process. The neutralization results in the formation of either a soluble or insoluble salt depending on the base catalyst and neutralizing acid employed. Since the presence of excess salt can be deleterious to certain end use properties, it is often removed from the resin by techniques such as insoluble salt filtration or ion exchange. From both a cost and pollution criteria, it is desirable to avoid removing the salt from the resin. Thus, a need exists in the art for aqueous resole resin solutions that have been neutralized so as to provide particular inert salts that do not need to be removed but enhance the properties of the aqueous resole resin solutions.